Schools, shops, business establishments, private offices and banks remained closed in most pasts of the Valley due to the strike, officials said.
Ahead of Indo-Pak foreign ministers meet in New Delhi on Wednesday, Pakistan Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday met both the Hurriyat Conference factions during which the separatists sought Islamabad's intervention for release of Ghulam Nabi Fai arrested in US for being a front of Inter Services Intelligence.
Separatist outfits in Kashmir have reacted strongly to the arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai, the executive director of the Kashmir American Council based in Washington, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Terming the arrest of Dr Fai as "unjustified", hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said, "The arrest has been made at the behest of the government of India. It is the result of a deep rooted conspiracy to weaken the ongoing movement in Kashmir."
The chargesheet highlighted his links to Pakistan-trained Abu Dujana and Abu Qassim, who were killed in separate encounters with security forces, and went on to allege that he used to meet them personally as well as through Over Ground Workers.
A four member panel of Kashmir Committee on Thursday met the hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at his uptown residence in Srinagar and had two hour-long deliberations with him.
Apprehending breach of peace, authorities have barred chairman of hardline Hurriyat faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani from visiting Shopian town in south Kashmir on Friday to hold a public rally
Funeral prayers in absentia were offered for slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in various mosques in Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar and other towns after the congregational Friday prayers.
The city police on Tuesday told a Delhi court that it was still probing the sedition case against hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, writer Arundhati Roy and four others for making alleged anti-India speeches last year.
Kashmiri separatist groups have welcomed United States President Barack Obama's statement that Jammu and Kashmir was 'a longstanding dispute between India and Pakistan which the two neighbours must resolve'.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, has denied news reports that appeared in a leading national paper saying that he did not want travel documents to be issued to rival APHC group chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani when an AHPC delegation visited Pakistan in 2005.
Despite Home Minister P Chidambaram's assurance that action will be taken against Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's alleged secessionist speech in New Delhi last week, the city police is yet to file a complaint against the separatist leader."We are studying the speech delivered by Geelani. Once that is done, a report will be sent to the home minister for his approval," Delhi police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said.
Hearing of the sedition case against hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, writer Arundhati Roy and four others for their alleged anti-India speeches was preponed by a fortnight by a Delhi court. The court, which earlier had fixed the matter for hearing on May 5, today advanced it to April 19 following a plea for early hearing by complainant Sushil Pandit.
As curfew and severe restrictions continue to hinder public movement in Kashmir, internet has emerged as the new choice of communication with separatist and militant leaders who are using the medium for spreading their message.
The hard-line Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday said it was willing to consider the offer of talks by Centre-appointed interlocutors, but the Delhi police's restriction orders on Syed Ali Shah Geelani had put a spanner in this direction."Hurriyat had decided to discuss the invitation of the Centre's interlocutors after the return of Geelani from Delhi, but his detention has delayed the meeting, where a decision would have been taken on the issue," Hurriyat spokesman said.
Normal life in Kashmir was disrupted on Tuesday following a strike call given by the hardline separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference against the curbs imposed on its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in New Delhi, which barred him from leaving the capital.
Hard-line separatist leader and All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani was detained by the police in Srinagar on Wednesday. A group of policemen led by senior officers reached his uptown Hyderpora residence on Wednesday afternoon and took the octogenarian separatist leader into custody.Geelani, who has been spearheading the violent protests that have rocked the valley in the last few months, was shifted to the nearby police station at Humhama.
Apprehending law and order problem in Anantnag where a youth was allegedly killed in firing by security forces on August 30, curfew remained in force in the town, official sources said.
Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir imposed curfew in most parts of the Valley on Saturday, following which, all the shops closed down and streets were left deserted.
Criticising co-education in schools and colleges, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Thursday said the Jammu and Kashmir government was promoting 'immoral activities' by keeping girls and boys shoulder to shoulder.
Kashmir's hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Monday claimed the 'Jammu and Kashmir government was provoking the youth to again pick up arms through arrests and intimidation'.
Life in Srinagar and other major towns was affected by a shutdown called by the hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani to coincide with the first death anniversary of a student killed by a tear smoke shell hit in old city last year.
Hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday said that 'henceforth his movement for troop withdrawal would be extremely peaceful'. "We will ensure that our peaceful movement for troop withdrawal continues. We will even avoid shouting provocative slogans." Geelani alleged that 'excessive force had been used during the five-month long summer unrest to push the people to take up arms'.
The stone-pelting was sponsored by the Syed Ali Shah Geelani faction to create law and order problem in Sopore, Abdul Latief Lone, detained under the Public Safety Act, told police, according to DIG (North Kashmir) Munir Khan.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar and other towns on Thursday evening to scuttle Friday's proposed separatist march to Eidgah grounds in the city.
Life across Kashmir valley was badly affected on Friday by a protest shutdown called by hard-line separatist leader and All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.The strike had been called to protest against the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.Although authorities didn't impose any restrictions in the old city, security across Srinagar has been beefed up to maintain law and order.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah said that his government intended to hold the deferred Panchayat elections in the state on non-party basis.
A Delhi court on Thursday ordered registration of FIR against Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani, writer Arundhati Roy and five others for allegedly making anti-India speeches.
The Delhi High Court issued notice to the city government seeking its response as to why criminal case should not be registered against hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, writer Arundhati Roy and Delhi University professor S A R Geelani for allegedly making anti-India speeches.
"We have seen enough of strikes and curfews for the past four months and now we want to feed our families. We cannot go on forever like this," a vendor, who identified himself only as Khalid, told PTI
The Government decided not to file any case against hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and activist Arundhati Roy for purportedly giving "hate speeches" at a seminar held in Delhi last week.
Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy recently received a tremendous amount of criticism for her speech at the Azadi -- The Only Way seminar in New Delhi, where she shared the stage with Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani. In a strongly worded statement, Roy clarifies her stance on the issue.
Terming the remarks made by Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer Arundhati Roy at a seminar in New Delhi as 'most unfortunate', Law Minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said freedom of speech cannot violate patriotic sentiments of the people."Yes, there is freedom of speech, but it can't violate the patriotic sentiments of the people," he said.
Calling for a boycott of the Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir, hardline Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani said they had been appointed as part of a 'dirty trick' to mislead United States President Barack Obama.
Highly-placed sources in the ministry said that an advice from the legal department was received that prima facie a case can be registered against Geelani and others for making statements which are seen as an attempt to instigate secession. The sources said the Delhi Police has been asked to register a case, which they are expected to do soon.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been re-elected chairman of his group, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) for a term of three years. Geelani's term was to expire on Sunday and he was elected unopposed, according to a spokesman here.
The efforts to forge unity among the various Kashmiri separatist groups received a jolt after hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani rejected the unity move of the moderate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday.
Farooq Abdullah and Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday sparred in public with the former chief minister asking him to give up his "movement of violence" in Jammu and Kashmir and telling him secession can never be accepted.
Hinting at continuing protests in Kashmir till the visit of United States President Barack Obama to India in November, Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Sunday accused the Centre of trying to suppress the 'movement' in the Valley ahead of the US President's arrival.
A Delhi court is likely to take a decision on March 10 on a plea seeking a direction to the police to file a chargesheet in a case lodged against hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, writer Arundhati Roy and four others in a case of sedition for their alleged anti-India speeches.
As schools in Kashmir Valley reopened on Monday after over three months, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah asked hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other separatists not to target children because they are going to schools.
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